New Mexico, like three-fourths of the states, requires write-in candidates who want their write-ins tallied to file a declaration of write-in candidacy. The New Mexico Secretary of State has accepted a write-in declaration of candidacy filing from a write-in candidate for Governor, even though he has no Lieutenant Governor running mate. See this story. New Mexico is one of the states in which candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor run in November as a team.
The story quotes Denise Lamb, a county election official, condemning the decision. Denise Lamb once worked in the New Mexico Secretary of State’s office as head of the elections bureau. While she was there, she tried to persuade the legislature to ban write-ins. She almost succeeded in 1997. The Secretary of State’s omnibus election law bill, HB 865, included a ban on write-ins, but Governor Gary Johnson vetoed it, to Lamb’s great displeasure.
Some states that elect Governors and Lieutenant Governors as a team in November have permitted candidates on the ballot, even if they don’t have a running mate. Others have refused. States that permit a candidate without a running mate include Alaska, Illinois and Wisconsin.
If a candidate without a running mate were to be elected, the vacant office could be filled by special procedures that each state has for filling vacancies. Obviously each state has such procedures, because, as everyone knows, any person can theoretically die at any time.
This year, New Mexico is the only state with no minor party or independent candidates on the November ballot for any statewide office or for any U.S. House race. Even Washington state has an independent candidate on the ballot for U.S. House in the 7th district, where this year no Republican ran in the “top-two” primary in that race, so that the independent was able to place second.